diff --git a/icu4c/source/i18n/dtfmtsym.cpp b/icu4c/source/i18n/dtfmtsym.cpp
index c1a4d8e889..b710170916 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/i18n/dtfmtsym.cpp
+++ b/icu4c/source/i18n/dtfmtsym.cpp
@@ -1987,7 +1987,7 @@ DateFormatSymbols::getZoneType(const UnicodeString& zid, const UnicodeString& te
     UnicodeString* strings = (UnicodeString*)fZoneStringsHash->get(zid);
     if(strings != NULL){
         for(int32_t j=0; j<UTZ_MAX_DISPLAY_STRINGS_LENGTH; j++){
-            if(text.caseCompare(start, strings[j].length(), strings[j], 0)==0){
+            if(strings[j].length() >0 && text.caseCompare(start, strings[j].length(), strings[j], 0)==0){
                 type = (TimeZoneTranslationType)j;
                 value.setTo(strings[j]);
                 return;
diff --git a/icu4c/source/test/intltest/dtfmtrtts.cpp b/icu4c/source/test/intltest/dtfmtrtts.cpp
index 89c51189b3..a4b59ab136 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/test/intltest/dtfmtrtts.cpp
+++ b/icu4c/source/test/intltest/dtfmtrtts.cpp
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ DateFormatRoundTripTest::runIndexedTest( int32_t index, UBool exec, const char*
     optionv = (par && *par=='v');
     switch (index) {
         CASE(0,TestDateFormatRoundTrip)
+        CASE(1, TestCentury)
         default: name = ""; break;
     }
 }
@@ -82,6 +83,25 @@ DateFormatRoundTripTest::failure(UErrorCode status, const char* msg, const Unico
     return FALSE;
 }
 
+void DateFormatRoundTripTest::TestCentury()
+{
+    UErrorCode status = U_ZERO_ERROR;
+    Locale locale("es_PA");
+    UnicodeString pattern = "MM/dd/yy hh:mm:ss a z";
+    SimpleDateFormat fmt(pattern, locale, status);
+    UDate date[] = {-55018555891590.05, 0, 0};
+    UnicodeString *result = new UnicodeString[2];
+
+    fmt.format(date[0], result[0]);
+    date[1] = fmt.parse(result[0], status);
+    fmt.format(date[1], result[1]);
+    date[2] = fmt.parse(result[1], status);
+
+    if (date[1] != date[2] || result[0] != result[1]) {
+        errln("Round trip failure: \"%S\" (%f), \"%S\" (%f)", result[0].getBuffer(), date[1], result[1].getBuffer(), date[2]);
+    }
+}
+
 // ==
 
 void DateFormatRoundTripTest::TestDateFormatRoundTrip() 
diff --git a/icu4c/source/test/intltest/dtfmtrtts.h b/icu4c/source/test/intltest/dtfmtrtts.h
index 62db9e426e..1749d0e682 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/test/intltest/dtfmtrtts.h
+++ b/icu4c/source/test/intltest/dtfmtrtts.h
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 /********************************************************************
  * COPYRIGHT: 
- * Copyright (c) 1997-2003, International Business Machines Corporation and
+ * Copyright (c) 1997-2006, International Business Machines Corporation and
  * others. All Rights Reserved.
  ********************************************************************/
 
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ public:
     virtual ~DateFormatRoundTripTest();
     
     void TestDateFormatRoundTrip(void);
+    void TestCentury(void);
     void test(const Locale& loc);
     void test(DateFormat *fmt, const Locale &origLocale, UBool timeOnly = FALSE );
     int32_t getField(UDate d, int32_t f);